Goddard realises after three years of unsuccessful tests that the cartridge rocket concept is too complex and that a new approach is needed. Smokeless powder solid fuels were too unstable for rocket use. Therefore Goddard turned to liquid oxygen and gasoline as propellants. On this date he bought his first can of liquid oxygen from Linde Corporation in Worcester. He had to haggle for it; the liquid form was then only a by-product in the process of extracting gaseous oxygen from the atmosphere. Goddard was charged $ 10 per 2 gallon flask, the minimum Linde would sell to him.
References: 377 .

In testimony before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics,
Richard E. Horner, Associate Administrator of NASA, presented NASA's
ten-year plan for 1960-1970. The essential elements had been recommended
by the Research Steering Committee on Manned Space Flight. NASA's Office
of Program Planning and Evaluation, headed by Homer J. Stewart,
formalized the ten-year plan.

On February 19, NASA officials again presented the ten-year timetable to
the House Committee. A lunar soft landing with a mobile vehicle had been
added for 1965. On March 28, NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan
described the plan to the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space
Sciences. He estimated the cost of the program to be more than $1
billion in Fiscal Year 1962 and at least $1.5 billion annually over the
next five years, for a total cost of $12 to $15 billion.
Additional Details: NASA's Ten-Year Plan presented to Congress. References: 16 .

1963 - Nation: USA.

Philco prime contractor for the Mission Control Center Program: Apollo.

NASA announced the selection of the Philco Corporation as prime contractor for the Mission Control Center (MCC) at MSC. To be operational in mid-1964, MCC would link the spacecraft with ground controllers at MSC through the worldwide tracking network.
References: 16 .

1964 - Nation: USA.

Agreement on space tracking station west of Madrid, Spain Program: Apollo.

The United States and Spain agreed to the construction and operation of a $1.5 million space tracking and data acquisition station about 48 kilometers (30 miles) west of Madrid, Spain. Linked with the NASA Deep Space Instrumentation Facility, the station included a 26-meter (85-foot)-diameter parabolic antenna and equipment for transmitting, receiving, recording, data handling, and communications with the spacecraft.
Additional Details: Agreement on space tracking station west of Madrid, Spain. References: 16 .

The first major Saturn V flight component, a 10-m (33-ft) diameter, 27,215 kg (60,000 lb corrugated tail section which would support the booster's 6,672 kilonewtons (1.5-million-lb) thrust engines, arrived at MSFC from NASA's Michoud Operations near New Orleans. The section was one of five major structural units comprising Saturn V's first stage.
References: 16 .